The invention relates to the field of vending and arcade machines and appliances, and more particularly, to such machines and appliances which only operate after receipt of coins or tokens into a coin mechanism.
Vending machines consist, in general, of two types of machines; single item vending machines and bulk vending machines. Both single item and bulk vending machines are old in the art. Single item vending machines are normally associated with those machines used for dispensing a particularly chosen item to a user of the machine. For example, a user of a single item vending machine will insert the required amount of money, represented by coins (tokens) or bills, into the machine and will then have an opportunity to select from a variety of different items. These items can include different types of snacks (candy bars, potato chips, pretzels, gum, breath mints, etc.), drinks (soda, fruit juices, water, etc.) or ice cream (sandwiches, pops, cones, etc.).
In contrast, a bulk vending machine does not normally lend itself to giving the user of a machine a choice between the goods to be selected. In general, bulk vending machines hold large quantities of a particular type of item (gum balls, nuts, trail mix, toys, balls, etc.) in a large, usually top mounted, receptacle. By placing coin(s), or in some instances, a specially designed token which resembles a coin, into the coin mechanism of the bulk vending machine, one, or a handful, of the items within the receptacle are dispensed for receipt by the user. In these machines, no choice has been given to the user, and the user will receive whichever item, or items, are next in line to be dispensed.
Parents will now clearly understand the distinction between single item vending machines and bulk vending machines; single item vending machines give their child a choice and the child walks away happy and content, while bulk vending machines distribute what they want to the awaiting hands of the child, and no matter how much screaming and ranting by the child, he/she will have to eat the blue gum ball, even though he/she really wanted a green gum ball.
In this specification, "coin" will refer to either regular legal tender (i.e., in the United States, quarters, dimes, etc.), or tokens (sometimes referred to as slugs), which are purchased by a person for use in a vending/arcade machine when regular legal tender is not accepted into the machine.
Vending machines, whether they are single item or bulk, as discussed above, can themselves be of two particular types: (1) those having coin mechanisms which use rotating handles mounted around a substantially, centrally mounted axial rod, and a cam also mounted around the rod; or (2) those having coin mechanisms which receive at one time from one to a line of multiple coins, on a slotted lever extending from the machine, which is operated by pushing the lever into the machine and then pulling it out of the machine to deposit the coins into the machine. The rotating handle machines discussed immediately above, and counters for such machines, are the subjects of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 08/842,677 and 09/065,504. This application will address coin counters for the second type of single item or bulk vending machine discussed immediately above, the push-pull machine. These push-pull mechanisms are also regularly found on arcade machines (such as pool tables), and publically accessible appliances, such as washers and dryers in Laundromats.
Since bulk vending machines are normally not powered by plugging them into an AC power outlet, but instead operate through standard mechanics, the bulk vending industry has never had a successful way of counting the money received into bulk vending machines. Today's standard methods for determining the amount of vends which have occurred, and the coins inserted into a given machine during a certain period of time, are by hand-held coin counters and weight scales. These methods make the collection process very time consuming and leave no hope for any sense of security, nor for the possibility of building any kind of financial history for the particular machine by the owner or lease holder of the machine.
However, even if AC power were required to operate bulk vending machines (as is required for most single item vending machines, arcade games and pay-per-use appliances), using AC powered counters is disadvantageous due to possible electrical conversion problems for the particular counter and the AC power source, due to the fact that it is inherently more dangerous to use an electrically powered counter, as opposed to a mechanically operated, self-contained counter, and due to possible loss of the counting records from electrical outages.
As is evidenced by the counting mechanisms of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,201,396, 4,392,564, 4,376,479, 4,369,442, 4,216,461 and 4,143,749, the prior art discloses attempts to insert counters into vending machines. These prior art counters have the disadvantages of requiring a separate AC power source and the need of an associated power converter to provide the low voltage power needed to the meter. These prior art counters also disclose mechanisms having computers attached thereto, mechanisms for determining the value of the coins deposited, and mechanisms for counting the value of the items exiting the machine. All of these counters are hindered by deficiencies in size, power source, the complicated nature of their operation, safety and data retrieval should there be a power outage.
In addition, there was previously used a counter assembly for drop-coin vending machines, arcade machines and appliances. A sample of this type of prior art counter assembly is shown in FIGS. 10A-10C of the drawings to this application. While similar to the subject invention, the prior art drop-coin counter assembly of FIGS. 10A-10C would not work if installed into a push-pull coin mechanism. There are a number of reasons for this failure: a push-pull mechanism will usually be used by operators needing a multiple coin drop; due to the nature of its construction and functioning the prior art counter assemblies of FIGS. 10A-10C regularly break due to the weight of the coins, full rotation of the actuator arm of the counter, and tampering with the actuator arm by a technician trying to fix a jam of coins. These disadvantages of the prior art counters of FIGS. 10A-10C will be discussed in more detail later in this specification.
The vending, arcade and pay-per-use appliance industries that use push-pull coin mechanisms are crying out for a small, self powered (not requiring an external AC power source) counting mechanism to assist them in monitoring the flow of coins into and out from their machines. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a coin counter for push-pull coin vending machines, arcade machines and pay-per-use appliances. It would also be desirable for these counters to need no external AC power source, to be sized so as to fit within the restricted space limitations of all of these machines, to be accurate, and to be easily read.